


Another Chance: Triumph

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Another Chance (Pern/DCU fusion) [7]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alternate Universe - Fusion, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 23:05:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the colony divides into a new lifestyle and separate ways, the young riders come into their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Chance: Triumph

Evacuation had been smooth and steady, with most of the equipment except what had to be used right up to its move date, leaving out before Patrice de Broglie reached Ongola at what was left of Landing with an official 'get the hell out of there' because Garben had suddenly hit a higher sulphur to chlorine ratio. 

"Good thing we finally got the _Parakeet_ loaded last night with the last of the infirmary," Zi told Patrice, before clapping the man on the shoulder gently. "Patrice, don't beat yourself up with wrong peaks or any such nonsense. We're well ahead of the game, and I think we'll all be in Kahrain by the time that old Senator has one more blow for us," the administrator told the geologist.

"I hope you're right." He mopped his brow from his run over to the office. "I really do." He watched Zi go to the comm board, flipping the switch to the Landing PA system.

"This is Zi Ongola. Time is up, Landing. All personnel report in an orderly fashion to the sled field. Shuttle crew to the _Parakeet._ Again, full evac is ordered as of now, so move quickly but orderly to your assigned sleds!" He closed that switch, then opened the comms to the Dragon Caves, as the Catherine Caves were more known as these days. "Leonid?"

"Here, sir. What is it?" the young man's voice was steady but intent. 

"Leonid, is Sean available? Today's the day, Patrice says. I know the trenches are finished, just case the flow gets that far, but you'll want to make sure the openings that face Garben are shielded with heavy slabs."

"Garben?" Leonid asked, startled. "I thought -- never mind that, sorry sir. Sean's out, but I'll send word to him, and those of us that are here can get the door-shields up. Do I pass the message to Jake and Dinah, or are you?" 

"I trust you to, since I have to pilot the biggest sled we've got left," Zi told him. "I'll contact you from Kahrain Cove once we've regrouped there," he added. "I'll definitely need to talk to Sean then, once I've seen how much materials are left to shift to either stakes or North."

"I'll get him to you," Leonid promised. "Caves out, sir." He clicked the mic off, and adjusted his board to reach out to Jake on Dinah's southern stake. "Jake, come in." 

After a moment, he got back a solid, "Here, man. Leonid? What's up?" Jake swatted at the firelizard trying to steal the sandwich he had been working on, only to nearly spill his drink while trying to save it from the blue that stuck his head in the tumbler. "Would all of you... I don't see how Dinah gets anything done with all of you around!"

An indignant cheep answered him, one Leonid could hear through the comm, and he laughed for just a moment, before he sucked a breath. "Ongola just told me they're doing the final evac now. It's not Picchu, it's Garben, and apparently it's going to go sooner than not. Which half of the stakes do you want to contact, I will take the other." 

"Crap, umm... yeah, thanks for the help." At Jake's sudden swing toward seriousness, the wilds that had populated his workspace vanished or took to the rafters. "Let's see, I've got better solar collectors, so you keep the ones in close to the coast and east, while I take the center and west?"

"Da, that suits," Leonid agreed, "Caves out." 

That message sent, he picked up a handset that would alert him of priority calls and headed out of his particular cave, jogging towards the central meeting area and heart, looking for the closest rider. 

The closest rider turned out to be Nora, who normally just managed household affairs unless Sean needed her riding with him. "You look worried, Leonid," Nora told him.

"I am," Leonid said, looking towards the -- far too close -- heavily smoking peaks. "They've launched the final evacuation from Landing. Ongola commed to say we needed to get the full shields up, and... it's Garben, not Picchu. What that's going to mean for flow, I do not know, but. Shields need to go up, and Ongola will comm back when he reaches Kahrain, he needs to be able to talk to Sean then. I told him I'd get him to him." 

_Tenneth,_ she bespoke in her mind even as she answered Leonid, one of the more adept at double-talking. "I've got that." _Reach Carenath, tell him his rider is needed here._

 _Very well._ Tenneth stretched sleepily in her hollow, then reached out. _Carenath? Your rider is needed at home. Mountains go boom?_ she added in puzzlement at her rider's mental workings, asking Carenath if that should even be possible by her tone.

Carenath went from equally puzzled to frightened in the miniscule space before he even answered her. _We come,_ the bronze said, and bare moments later, he and Sean were in the air above Nora and Leonid. 

"Oh. Still getting used to that!" Nora said with a smile, but it was tight with stress. "Leonid said Ongola is going to want you on comms once he's got the last Landing people over to Kahrain."

"Of course he does. Probably knows good and well half that mess stacked at Kahrain should have shipped out and hasn't," Sean said sourly.

"The shields need to be put in -- it's Garben, not Picchu. Dinah and Jake know, Jake is taking the western stakes. I told him I would notify the eastern and central," Leonid told him, "any messages to relay?" 

"Well _jays_. Not yet." Sean's face darkened. "Tonight we decide how to train the dragons to chew rock. The sleds are mostly going north to stay, and that's going to make Thread harder to deal with. We can get to any fall with our flamers, but..."

"The dragons flaming would be best," Nora completed, nodding.

Leonid wondered if they were old enough, his blue hadn't chewed firestone until he was well over a year hatched, and he remembered the nine-hundred-part harmony of the fire-lizards quite well... but he wasn't going to say that to Sean. "Good. Back to it, then," he said with a wave, turning around to jog back to his comms. 

"Nora, you're the queen on site; issue recall to all riders. I want them in before dinner; should give them time to finish up anything they are in the middle of," Sean told Nora. He then went to check the stone covers for all their volcano-side entrances, calling Jerry and Otto to help him.

Nora glanced at the heavens for a moment, affection writing its way across her face even as she did, and started to reach out through Tenneth, ordering everyone home. 

***

Even knowing the propensity to stupidity and disarray that any organizational project fell into without Joel directly involved, Sean was still livid at the mess he and Zi Ongola were surveying at Kahrain Cove. He'd first intended to use the comms, then had decided that it would be easier -- and less prone to interference -- if he and Carenath just went to join him. 

"Orders got countermanded too many times," Zi growled -- at least he was just as angry as Sean was. "Some of that is irreplaceable, and it can't sit here much longer at all."

"Jays, Zi," Sean said, shaking his head at the chaos, "I know it's been a hell of a mess, but this -- this is going to push everyone harder than we needed. What've they been doing all this time?" 

"I'd like those answers myself. I got some kind of flack from them about storms and weather, but it's not like mere rain is the worst this planet throws at us!" Zi snapped, watching the chaos expand instead of sort itself out as people haphazardly moved gear into staging areas.

Sean growled, shaking his head, and stared at the mess, watching the flurry of sleds going in and out for a few minutes before he turned back to Zi. "How much of that stuff is supposed to go to the harbor at Paradise, and how much goes all the way north? Anything bound for Paradise, we'll manage to shift. The stuff that's supposed to go to Fort, though... Do you have a real good, recent 'fax of what the Fort looks like, right now?" 

"No, but I can have one. There's supposed to be some kind of organization to it... and by the stars, I'll have it lined up come morning, or my name's not Ongola!" The serviceman was very unhappy. He then looked at Sean. "You taught them, didn't you, to do the little ones' trick? That why you need to see where Fort is, or rather what it looks like now?" He was approving, even of the lack of official word, in the way of a man who preferred not to get hopes up prematurely.

"Wish I could take credit for it," Sean said, able now to let his mouth quirk in a half smile, "but Roy's Brileth figured the trick out first. We're still practicing with it -- and it's still one of the scariest damn things I've ever done -- trying to figure out how to make sure we're safe. Yeah. That's why we've got to see it." 

Nora was still terrified half out of her mind by the blackness of _between_ around her, it still left Jerry spooked, and the cold didn't really sit well with any of them, but they were getting better at it with every attempt. Rachel and Chamuth seemed to be the only two that had no problem at all with it -- but then, Rachel was... Rachel, and defied description. 

"Keep it up, Connell. I know you lot have gotten shunted to the rear of Admin's priorities -- always happens when too many civilians are in on military maneuvers -- but I have faith you're still our best hope." He knew their air force was going to be dangerously depleted by the end of the evacuation. "Meet up here at full light, and I'll have that sorry mess ready to shift for you."

Sean had volunteered to move the stuff because it was better than being drafted into it -- but those words of gruff reassurance brought another quick smile to his lips. "Thanks," Sean said, reaching out to clasp his shoulder for a moment. "See you after sunup."

Now he was doubly grateful he'd already had Nora call the others home -- it would give them time to talk this over, plan out the best use of their dragons' strength and abilities to protect the loads of critical cargo. And if they got up early enough and went east, they might well be able to feed their dragons well before the day's work. 

Zi nodded tersely, then started down to the field to take charge and get things situated as they needed to be, his brisk militant manners making themselves swiftly apparent and jerking the former service members right into line.

Sean walked back to Carenath and swung up, snapping the clips into place so that they could take to the air and go back home. It wasn't all that far, not enough to justify the jump between, but he circled Carenath around once, getting a good picture of the rocks and the harbor, the tents that were likely to still be there in the morning so that he would have a good image to come back to, then they headed back. 

****

Thankfully for Sean's peace of mind, most of the staff there at Kahrain was still getting breakfast in the one long mess tent when they teleported in overhead and made the quick glide down. He headed into the tent, looking for Zi, and nearly fell across the governor coming out. He hadn't quite expected Emily Boll to be there, not having seen her earlier, but at the same time, he wasn't surprised. No matter what he frequently thought of Admin, they did give every bit as hard and as much as they asked from anyone else.

"Morning," he said as he got out of her way, his eyes flicking over the clipboard in her hand, heavy with what had to be shipping manifests. "Zi up and at it?" 

"Is he ever," Emily replied with admiration for the man's drive. Even the incident with Bitra had failed to stop Ongola's win-it-all-or-else attitude. "How are you, young Connell?"

"...probably better rested than you are, ma'am," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "Here to shift stuff to Paradise once he tells us which crates." 

"Ahh yes." Emily looked down at the staging area, where there were two distinctly roped off areas. "The items in the green roped area are for dragon conveyance, along with the skiffs that are braving the waters. The orange roped area is awaiting sled usage. Or shuttle, if the _Parakeet_ is able to make it back down."

"...not gonna bet on that," Sean said, having heard Dick's opinions on the shuttles' usability and lifespan at some length. "If you'd tell him we're on it, then, I'll get back to my riders and we'll get on the move." 

He turned to head back for the area in question, relaying where to meet him through Carenath, then turned back, smiling a little brighter at her. "The dragons still aren't ready to chew firestone," he said, "but steal a minute to watch once we get the first load to tree-height, if you can." 

"I certainly will," Emily said, smiling back at him. What a difference the dragons had made in the young riders that Connell smiled so easily at times. The man wasn't dour, but his smiles had once been hard-won.

He nodded and kept moving, getting over to where the others and Carenath had already landed again. 

Zi, he saw, had rigged each set of cargo already in a carry-net, and none of them looked as though they would tax the dragons too much, so he just settled to making certain that each of them had the first of the nets safely in their grips. He lifted his voice, calling across their distance the first reminder all of them used as his hand dropped to his own. He couldn't see any reason to point out to them that the governor was watching, it would just add stress. It was certainly making him hyper-cautious. "Check straps!" 

"Checked!" echoed back to him in nineteen-part harmony. 

"Know where we're going?" They'd all been to Paradise Harbor repeatedly over the last few weeks. It was a familiar destination, and one they should be able to reach easily. 

"We know!" 

"Then let's go!" he pushed up on Carenath's neck, lifting his hand as high as he could before he dropped it, signal to all of them to spring. 

Sand flew everywhere as they sprang off the ground, wings pumping hard to make altitude enough, and after a quick glance behind him to check that they were all where they should be, he focused on where they needed to be, on the shape and color of Paradise Harbor.

Emily Boll was watching as the dragons rose, oriented toward Paradise... and then in a single blink, they were all gone, the skies empty of dragonwings. "Well, I'll be..." Emily murmured aloud, amazed at the brilliant maneuver carried out in such synchronicity.

Seconds later, they winked back into existence over Paradise Harbor, and Sean laughed for a moment, thrilled with being able to do this without having to straight-line fly it.

Dick gave a victorious whoop as this was their first chance to actually do it in formation with all three wings of dragons, and the entirety had come through _between_ without a hitch, all perfectly lined up as they had been earlier. By the noises all around him, more than a few of the others felt the same!

 _We only do what we are meant to,_ Shareth informed him, baffled as to why it was so incredible to his rider.

"I know you think it's easy, Sharrie," Dick said, laughing as he looked across the flapping sets of wings at his widely grinning partner, "but since we can't do it at all, it's kind of amazing to us. We all came in _perfect!_ "

He patted at his dragon's neck as they all followed Sean towards the ground, heading for one of the cleared sled fields.

Dani Keroon was at the field before they hit the ground, her eyes sparkling bright as she called a loud hello. "Did I really see -- you really did it?!"

"We did!" Sean said triumphantly, proud of his riders and their dragons. He patted at Carenath's neck ridges. "If there's any meat to be had, they'll be hungry after we shift all we can from Kahrain," he said, not above trying to get meals for his walking appetites that would not involve hunting after such effort. "They still like fish even!"

"We don't have a whole lot stored, but I'll see what Garth and Themis can turn up for them, quick as we can," Dani nodded, her eyes flicking at the nets thoughtfully. She didn't _want_ to have to pull him out of the work he'd been doing, keeping the lightest boats in line and in the shipping lanes, but there was nothing like a dolphin and dolphineer team to bring in the bigger fish. "Have to round up some more bodies to move all this where it's supposed to be before you lot are back again."

"We can take our time, then, hunt while we're fresh if you have bodies for skinning and roasting some of it," Sean said, magnanimously. He could use the time saved to be certain everyone got a good meal, and let the Paradise people get more ready for their ability.

"Jays, Sean!" Dani said, shaking her head, "I've got sailors and fisherfolk, the dolphineers running the shipping lanes, and Landing techs! ...huh. Maybe I can use a few of them on that." She paused for a moment, thinking.

"Looks like there's room enough for you to drop a couple more loads before we run out of space for your dragons to land. You want to do those trips, then knock off and hunt while we get it out of your way?" That made sense to Dani, it would let them have the cargo to sort while the dragons hunted, set some of the ones she wouldn't trust to find a datachip in a library with skinning and roasting whatever they brought back...

"That'll be the plan then, Dani," Sorka called from where she'd landed her wing. "And I'll see about bringing a skinning crew over from Kahrain," she added.

"Thanks, Sorka," Dani nodded, lifting her handset comm to start calling people out with one of the donks to move these goods out of the dragons' way. She paused after calling for the donk and looked back up. "Anything we can do to make you lot dropping this stuff easier on you?" 

Sean considered, then shook his head. "Try to keep the air above the drop zone clear. We'll be coming in above typical cruise altitude, so it shouldn't be a huge issue, few sleds as there are here," he told her.

"Can-do," Dani said, grinning at him as she jogged away again. 

Sean raised his hand up, and the riders paid attention as he called the first of the orders that led to a launch and blink, setting hand motions to voice so they got used to both. 

_You could just have them take placement from me, as I get it from you,_ Carenath informed him, with the equivalent of a dragon sigh.

In the moments between their spring and reaching the safe altitude, Sean stared at his dragon's neck-ridge in confusion. "I could what?" 

_You show me. I show them. They know precisely what you want then._ Carenath sounded perfectly calm over a possibility that had not yet dawned on his rider, but it made sense. When he wanted the entire fair to go somewhere, he told Blazer, and she told the rest.

"We'll try that next time," Sean said, holding the image of Kahrain in his mind still as they reached altitude, "once we riders get to talk about it." 

The cold of _between_ wrapped around them as Carenath said, _All right. We understand it, it is simple, but. You will talk, and then we will go_ between _easily._

Sean just clung tight to his dragon's mind, counting slowly to 8 seconds... and they were free and clear over Kahrain in the brisk breezes already carrying too much of Garben's garbage on it.

"Let's get the next load, Carenath," he said, resisting the urge to wipe at his goggles just yet.

`~`~`~`~`

Once they'd filled the unloading zone to capacity -- in five trips, not three, Dani was quick when she put her mind to something -- they had gone _between_ to hunt in areas of Araby that had not been so badly damaged by Thread (yet), and after the dragons had gotten their fill of wherries, had brought several down for the Paradise Harbor group's larder. 

While they, and their dragons, had been eating, the riders had decided that they'd probably done enough jumps _between_ in tight formation for the moment, and that it might be easier on donks, people, and dragons alike if they took loads as they reached them, and as Ongola got more packed into nets for them -- their ability to teleport had significantly upped the speed at which things were leaving Kahrain, nearly taxing Zi and Dani's ability to keep up with what was where. 

The minute they'd reached Kahrain again, one of the medics had started desperately calling for Kathy and Rachel's assistance with a victim of a donk-slung crate's impact with his chest, and Vic had needed Dick's help with a sled's turbines that had suddenly failed. Sean had been momentarily reluctant to let them go, but they were needed, and he'd agreed, turning his riders loose so long as they got everything done they had to today. 

He was on the ground, Carenath at the field waiting for him, studying the image of the Fort and talking over which section they needed to tackle next with Zi, when a flare of terror washed through him from his dragon. He dropped the fax, spinning around, trying to see what was going on -- 

\-- suddenly there were after-impressions on his retina of where a brown... Duluth... had been, a sled now in that spot, and the panic was both dragon and rider borne, amplified through the wings' complement of dragons. Chamuth bugled stridently, as Rachel reacted to the fear, instinctively reaching out and wrapping her sense of _knowing_ the other riders around Marco, pressing calm on the rider as the dragons reached for Duluth.

 _HOME!_ came from Carenath and Brileth both, reinforced by the will of Chamuth, laden with images of their cave entrances, and the knoll where dragons and riders alike tended to congregate.

He could half-hear Zi talking to him, but it was distant and unimportant next to what Carenath was telling him, and he flipped his left hand up to make Zi stop. "Carenath?" he asked aloud, desperately wanting his dragon to tell him that Duluth and Marco were safe. 

_I... am... no, he is there... doubled?_ Carenath was confused, but also certain Marco was safe with Duluth. _I hear him muffled at home._

Sean's legs nearly went out from under him with relief as Carenath said he was safe -- muffled, doubled? -- he tried to shake that off. That wasn't important, not in comparison to everything else, and he could finally breathe again. That overwhelming surge of the dragons' fear receded, washed away again, and he managed to look at ZI. 

Ongola waited a moment, making sure that Sean was really back with him, before he asked, "Are they all right?" 

"They're alive," Sean got out, "just barely, _no_ thanks to that fecking idiot in that sled!"

"That fecking idiot is about to have the worst day of his life," Zi promised Sean. "Clear your crew out, Connell. We'll start again when you show up next." Purposefully, he strode down to the field, where his tower had ordered that sled grounded and the pilot detained.

Sean nodded and watched those first few intent steps, then headed for Carenath, swinging himself up onto his dragon's back. "Home, Carenath. _Everyone_ home, now. And fecking tell them to be careful!" 

_I am telling them,_ the bronze said.

****

Marco, by the time everyone got home, was remarkably calmed, though from the looks of it, he had spent... a lot of time cleaning and pampering his dragon. In fact, it seemed impossible that he had been able to work that much ash off and get the brown so shiny with oil.

"Did you acquire super-speed or something?" Roy asked, staring at the oiling in progress.

Marco shook his head, taking a deep breath. "I've been here for an hour!" he said. "Time enough to change my gear after I got Duluth out of harness, and get him clean."

"Marco, we came straight back -- and we came back _between_ ," Sorka said, making her way between the other riders to get to him, "it can't have been more that ten minutes, if that. How -- okay, no, I _know_ I used to watch _Space Venturers_ a lot, but time travel is still a little much!"

Sean's mouth quirked for a moment, then he shook his head. "Carenath said something about hearing Duluth 'doubled'. Rachel, what did you get?" 

The quiet queen rider looked at Duluth, then Marco, before back at Sean. "A curious sensation of having twins in my reach."

It was Peter that spoke up, steady and firm. "We can talk that out once we've all gotten the ash off of our dragons -- we might not have an extra hour to do it in, but they still need to be clean -- and off of us, too. Wash them, wash ourselves, dress, meet in the kitchen?" 

"I'll go put the klah on, and open a bottle of quikal," Marco said, "since Duluth and I are already all cleaned up." 

"Good," Sean said, nodding at Peter and at him as everyone headed to get their dragons cleaned up. 

****

Once the dragons and riders were all cleaned up, and the dragons had decided that sleep was the best thing to happen since Impression, the riders got settled in at the communal kitchen.

"So, you were really here for like an hour before we got back?" Roy asked Marco, sitting next to him.

Marco pulled his wrist up and showed his chronometer that he wore. It was very nearly an hour later than the actual time. "See?"

Sean moved over to stare at the chronometer, shaking his head. "How the -- " 

Dick had been quiet and thoughtful since they'd gotten into the kitchen, and he tapped his fingers against the table for a moment. "...time zones," he muttered, drawing a map against the table with a fingertip, gridding the time zones across it. "We shoved him over here 'now-there', but... now in Kahrain is an hour ago here." 

Roy cocked his head, thinking about it. "So... if we can figure out vectors to go by, like sun-height and such, our dragons can slip _between_ time as well as places. That's trippy."

"And not something we'll be experimenting with!" Sean said firmly.

"Yeah. Can we please avoid doing something like accidentally ripping holes in the space-time continuum?" Nyassa said, her mouth quirking in amusement. "I'd really rather leave that safely in holotape and old movies." 

David had tensed up at the idea, but then he relaxed away from his thinking. He didn't protest as Rachel settled a little closer, though.

"What happened today, Marco, from your side?" Sorka asked gently.

He took a deep breath. "I panicked. I saw the sled, Duluth saw the sled, and... we went _between_. I think we all need to have a place in our head that is an instant think-of-place, so we have a fall back. Because until Duluth appeared here, I knew we were lost forever."

"Without having had somewhere in mind **to** go, Duluth didn't know how to get back out?" Otto guessed, looking at Marco thoughtfully. "Guess that makes sense -- but then how do the fire-lizards do their skip-in skip-out thing?" 

Tarrie cocked her head to the side, thinking about that. "You know how they say 'visualize the outcome you want' in sports and martial arts? Do they do something like that, maybe? 'See' themselves a length or two forward, out of the way of the Thread? Or just right back where they were, when the Thread's kept falling during those seconds?"

"The time trick!" Roy said. "They tell themselves to come right back... in the eight seconds we have timed their trips out! They know that's how long they can stay there in that … not-place, and the Thread is gone when they come back."

"Makes sense," Peter said, considering that angle. "You're thinking that place has no chronal energy of its own, which is why we accidentally sent Marco back an hour?"

"It's a working theory," Nyassa said. "I tell myself a nursery rhyme while I'm in there, to focus my brain off the cold, even as I am keeping the image of where we're going strong. If I didn't, I'd swear I'd been in it forever."

"Had those moments," Jerry agreed. "And that sounds like it ought to work. Bounce out before the Thread hits -- or, worst-case, as soon as it does -- bounce back in. Heck, if they can do it on instinct, with no more brain than they've got, surely between us and our dragons we can!" 

His words set off an explosion among the fire lizards in the rafters of the kitchen area, before the whole lot of them disappeared, then reappeared a few moments later, dropping a steady stream of berries down on Jerry's head for the insult.

"Oh good grief!" he yelped, flinging a hand up to stop the harmless little missiles spilling juice into his hair. "Okay, okay, I'm _sorry_ , you lot! Becca, come here, I know you're behind this. You're marvelous, and you still tried to eat my soap yesterday." 

She let out a stream of indignant cheeps, and the other riders could not help but laugh. 

"Don't ever insult a lizard; they get even," Sean said in a deadpan tone, but even he was amused by the shenanigans.

"Duly noted!" Jerry said as he finally managed to coax his queen down to his wrist to be petted, shaking his head a little. "So our dragons are even more amazing than we already thought they were, and we have to be careful about 'when' we want to go. There're way worse things, right?" 

"Definitely," Rosabelle said, shaking her head at the mess across the table and floor. "You get to help me clean this up, and then I say we all go. to. bed. Tomorrow's going to suck about as much as today has. Lutenth says it's better than trying to move everything to the caves, but not by a lot." 

+++

The comm going off had Leonid jogging for it -- it was damned early in the morning for halfway around the continent in Fort, but that was Fort's alert. Had to be something fairly important, if somebody there was up so early. "Caves here, Fort," he said once he was close enough to hit the switch, "what's the message?" 

He thought the voice that answered was one of the Radelins -- she sounded a little bit like Catherine, at least -- but it didn't really matter, not compared to the news that spilled out of her mouth. "The dragon eggs hatched! Well, six of them, anyway. Started in the middle of the night for some crazy reason. All dragons, none of those... things -- though apparently Ozzie and Cobber adore them for tunnel exploration -- like before. They Impressed, they speak, they know their names, and they're eating everything in sight." 

"Really? This is good news!" Leonid would have to go find Sean and relay the news, but to have good news for a change made it worth it. "Anything else to report?"

"One of the sleds nearly crashed, coming in early yesterday, everyone says we're lucky Barr was flying it -- one of the gyroscopes went out. Couple of crates of medical stuff bought it, but the passengers and crew are all okay. Good thing, too! The governor was on it. They're not going to be able to get that one going again, Fulmar says he refuses to try to trust it even if they could stabilize it again. That should be it -- unless -- 

"Did anyone put a comm in to you about the storm that hit the convoy?" 

"No, but we worked til past sundown yesterday finishing some shifts to Paradise and shuffling things that got mislabeled," Leonid said. "Been good of Ongola to stay here and oversee things as long as he has, and man did he chew out his payload handlers."

"That's been happening a lot, I think," she said with an audible snort, "Joel's had... some words. Anyway." He could hear her putting herself back on track. "The convoy the _Southern Cross_ has been shepherding -- it got caught in a tropical storm yesterday. Overturned several of the smaller boats, but nobody's dead or hurt badly enough to need evaced, so." 

"I'll tell Sean. Not sure how much help we can be at sea, but..." Leonid offered. "Caves out." He flipped the switch, then went to hunt Sean down -- or at least try to. None of the riders, not even Nora, seemed to be in the caves, though, so he resorted to whistling for his brown fire-lizard, writing out a note in a quick, easy hand and handing it over. His brown took it in careful claws, making a curious noise. 

"Carenath's rider, Spark," he told him, picturing Sean with Carenath as clearly as he could. "Find Sean." 

The note was a simple, 'News from Fort and the convoy, come back when you can.' 

Spark, like most of the fire-lizards, was a little intimidated by Sean, yet a cheep from Blazer made the brown land so the note could be taken. The morning had seen them shifting everything Zi needed moved to Paradise over there. To his frustration, Desi's, and Sean's, the 'fax had broken down and needed replacing before he would have a good aerial image of the Fort for them. Without more of the cargo to shift, and with no wish to have his dragons or riders pulled into working at Kahrain or Paradise Harbor, Sean had scattered the wings to either hunt, fish, or straight-line fly to the remaining major stakes so that at least one of them would have clear, current mental images of those locations for when Thread came to them. He himself had been sitting with Carenath up on the outlook point, trying to wrap his head around the next step to take with his riders. Once he had the note, he rose to his feet and walked over to Carenath. "Back down we go," he said, dismissing his lizards.

They winked out, and Carenath turned his head to look at him with one blue-green eye. _What is it?_ he asked, even as he put his foreleg out for his rider to use. 

"News from Fort, and Tillek, looks like," Sean told his bronze. He swung up with practiced ease... the dragons really did fit them now, and he was having some trouble visualizing the growth built into their genes for future generations. Sure, they'd have more endurance with the greater mass, and cover more distance, but... Carenath was so perfect that he just couldn't picture it. 

The trip back to the open cave entrance didn't take long at all, and Leonid looked up. "Good news or bad news first, boss?" 

Sean frowned. "Might as well hand out the usual news, and save the unusual for last."

Leonid snorted, amused, and went with the bad news as requested. "Tillek's convoy ran into a tropical storm. Turned nine boats over, but nobody's dead. Betting if they had capsizing boats, they lost cargo overboard, but I _could_ be being pessimistic --" 

"Realistic." Sean didn't much care to lose their hard effort in having moved the gear, but better things than people. "Not sure we can be much help on that side, unless they need people taken off listing boats." He looked at Leonid for the rest.

"One of the sleds -- one of the big ones, I'm betting, if the governor was on it -- went down hard. Lost a gyro, barely got it landed. Lost some of the cargo, but not a lot. So that's another sled permanently down... but at least it gives them spare parts." He shrugged a little. Everyone on Pern was getting good at cannibalizing FSP tech for what they needed. "And in the good news department, they got six successful dragons out of the eggs they shifted North. Names, Impressed, eating like... well, dragons!" 

Sean considered that, then nodded once. "I'll announce that once everyone's settled in tonight." He then looked to the north, not that he could see across an ocean. "Have to get them back down here, but too young to trust them between for now... or send one of us up to teach them to that point. After we learn the fire trick."

Leonid nodded, understanding all of that. "Da. Thought you should know it, though. That's all I've got -- 'least for now." 

"It's enough." Sean gave him a sharp nod, then went in search of his mate. She'd help him figure out why in all the rushing around he hadn't insisted the eggs stay south!

Sorka came jogging from their usual landing ground to meet him, her head tipping to the side worriedly as she reached out for him. "What's gone wrong now? I was checking the numbweed crop down southwest of Landing -- it's coming along." 

"Good to hear it." Sean embraced her close to him, breathing her hair and just trying to unknot for once. "Why didn't we figure out some way to keep the eggs down here? No... I know, too cold, no hatching place, and didn't think they'd be viable." He shook his head. "Six dragons, doing dragon things, up in that damn cave up north."

She tucked herself against his chest, her hands stroking firmly down his back, even as she breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. "They really -- oh, good. And yes, exactly. We hadn't been planning on needing a different Hatching Ground than Landing's in time to deal with that set of eggs. Have to figure that out in another year or so, but that's a year away. Oh, I'm glad to hear that. They'll be a year behind us -- but at least now we know what we're doing a little bit better?" 

"Yes." He pulled free after a long moment. "Storm dumped some of the ships. No lives lost, but thought we'd fly the course and see if they need any help shifting folks to better boats, or shore."

She nodded, her arms sliding down to wrap around his waist as she looked up. "Sounds good. Where are they?" 

"Ongola should have charts. We can practice skipping out as far as we can see along the route." Sean was going to make this the last volunteer effort until he had a chance to try getting the dragons to flame. They needed to fight Thread, not pack things from place to place!

"Do you want your wing or mine? Won't need all of us, not for that." And with some of them flying the long way to unfamiliar stakes...

"You've a better touch with people." Sean kissed the top of her head. "I leave ship rescue to you."

She grabbed hold of his shoulders and pulled herself up to kiss him properly, then grinned at him and turned to head back for Faranth. "We'll get them sorted out, Sean," she promised as she asked her queen to call her wing together in Kahrain. 

+++

David's wing was the last to return home that night, and it didn't take long for his riders to be into the kitchen with them, stripping off riding gear as they did. "Everybody else have fun today?" he asked as he dropped into a chair, leaning it back on its rear legs. "That look-forward-and-then- skip-to-it thing is _tiring_ , but man alive is it faster than straight flight! But oh, coming home was _fantastic_." 

"Well, out in the deeps, there are fish big enough to sate even our gluttons," Dick said, smirking. "The dolphins chased a school right into our dragons after we finished helping their divers."

Peter blinked, raising an eyebrow at Dick for that. "What were you doing out with them? Thought you were checking in with the stakes, just like we were."

Sorka laughed for a moment. "No, Tillek's fleet got drowned a little, so we went and held ships up for repair, then let our dragons have a game of 'find the boxes'. The dolphins think it's neat they see so well through the waters, leaving them to get the deeper stuff."

"Dolphins and dragons," Catherine said, smiling for a moment. "Singlath loves getting to spend time with them, but then, I think she'd nearly rather swim than fly --" her voice cut off for a moment, then she shook her head. "Only when the water's warm, she says."

Otto laughed. "Yeah, Shoth is that way, too. My sister apparently decided she's staying down close to mom and dad, she and her girl are putting up a stake due west of them. Of _course_ just out of easy sight-range." 

Sean let everyone get the gossip out of their systems before he spoke into a lull. "Got some news from Fort today." 

That got everyone's attention, their eyes coming around to him. 

He let out a heavy sigh, looking at each one of them, before letting his eyes rest on Dick. "The big sled that last made the run? Crashed. No lives, but it's scratched from the fleet." He let his friend react to that, saving the other bit.

"Dammit," Dick muttered, shaking his head. "Fifty years service, they said. Nine years in and only the last one seeing hard use, and we're losing them like this? 'Course, six hours a day, every few days, plus the sheer amount of trips they've made hauling material... Guess it's no surprise. Just glad it didn't take anyone with it." 

"Governor Boll was aboard, but she's merely shaken, was the word," Sean said. "Right, Leonid?"

"Da."

He then looked all around the riders again, before clearing his throat. "Okay, now's the time for us to put a dragon-care primer together. Something in easy words because we've got six dragonets up at the Fort."

Several expressions of disbelief and impressed pleasure later, the riders settled down again. "Kwan and Red are up there, right?" Nyassa asked, looking at Sorka -- not that they didn't all already know Red and Mairi were up north, along with Sean and Sorka's son. She'd had to give Mick over to her mother in the chaos around Tubberman's death and then the evacuation. Faranth was too needed, and she was too busy, to take care of her son the way he needed. 

"They know the early stuff pretty well. That'll help. I mean, those first days, it's just 'feed them every time they complain, oil their skin, get them to do what exercise they will while they're awake'... the harder stuff all comes once they're willing to be awake a little more, and that's what nobody but us can help with." 

Once Nyassa stopped talking, Sean let the riders get a little uncomfortable with how he was intently looking out at them. He wanted their full and undivided attention for what he was about to say.

"Kwan and Red and the rest of the _techs_ are up there with them," he said in a quiet, no-nonsense tone. "But those are **our** dragonriders. Not science experiments, which is how it will go with there only being six, and I'm betting younger riders, considering who was available up there. I want each and every one of you to get it in your skulls that we've got our own way of life, a way that's going to keep changing to suit our dragons and our duties. And that means **all** dragonriders! If I thought the dragonets could ride pick-a-back on the elders, I'd be stopping in down at Omaha tomorrow to get a proper fax and going after them to bring them in with us. Because _we_ will be the ones they need to look to, not anyone on the outside. That's the only way we are going to make ourselves into the fighting force this planet needs to keep it safe!"

Sorka gave her mate a long, not-entirely-pleased look, but she kept silent, letting the others have time to respond. 

"Hadn't even thought about who might've Impressed," Kathy said, her voice thoughtful. "They wouldn't have gone for too young, not knowing that they'll be ready to fight Thread in a year or so, but... you're right, Sean."

"I have had quite enough of my people being considered curiosities," Rachel said, having shifted to sit up very straight and look at Sean full-on. "Bad enough when it was Chamuth and I, and worse now, with them away from us. We have space enough for them here... but not bodies enough to hunt for them until they can do it themselves. How do we fix this?"

Sean considered, then took a deep breath. "Like with having Leonid here to handle quartermaster, we're going to need support staff. I'd prefer family members of those of us here, with an understanding they have to have skills to support us when we're busy fighting. But we look after our own, day in and day out, which will include those we take in."

"Kind of wish we weren't so far from Di; she's got a full set of students now, and it wouldn't be anything for them to alternate farming with hunting," Roy said. "But you're right, Sean. We have to start thinking of ourselves as a unit, with full support."

"Just... let's not get so ramrod up the arse as to turn into some of those military brass hats back Earth-way?" David pressed. 

"That way lies nothing good," Shih Lao agreed, nodding at David. "We do not need or want that."

"I've got what, four siblings and a dozen cousins?" Kathy said after a quick count on her fingers to make certain she wasn't missing anyone. "Sure, three of the cousins are in legal, but the rest have a pretty decent skillset. I'll see who's willing to leave great-grandmama to help us."

"There's got to be people who don't necessarily want to do what their dads and moms do," Marco pointed out. "We've all got our own skills to pass on to those willing to learn, too."

"Surely we can find the personnel for the jobs needed by the time the young ones are safely able to begin flying here, straight, under the shepherding of one of us," Rachel said.

"Wouldn't take much to put in more quarters for them, either," Leonid agreed. "I've got basic furnishings in Stores; most people prefer to try and make their own."

Sean sat back and listened as his people got in the groove of thinking more on the wavelengths he had been, and reached for Sorka's hand, looking at her. "Say it," he said, to invite her to get it off her chest.

She shrugged one shoulder, even as she wrapped her fingers through his, shaking her head. "Nah, Sean. Not as though you're wrong, we do need to get them down here." 

He frowned, knowing something he'd done had upset her, but he let it go, and settled back into his meal. She'd nag him later if it really bothered her.

Once there was a lull in the discussion of who they might need and where they could put them, Otto spoke up. "Had a thought while Shoth and I were out."

He glanced from rider to rider for a moment, then went on. "Think it'd be good for all of us to start carrying some of the little notebooks, write down reference points for the stakes. Sure, right now we've got some of them down so pat we won't lose them, but the ones we don't go to often? What do you think, Sean?" 

"I think it's a good idea," Sean said. "And I want to find people with an artistic talent. Getting the printers to give us images is getting harder and harder; I want to have picture references of one kind or the other for all the stakes to keep posted here. We're going to be busy, even if we only fly the falls over stakes, which means having all the training aids we can come up with for new dragonriders."

"Jays, that's going to be even harder than finding the people that really knew how to hand-write things," Alianne said, shaking her head, "but there're a few... Who decorated those rooms at your ma's in Landing, Sorka, the ones the kids were in? Some of those paintings were real good -- sure, they were pretty baby-things, but still. Artsy-types tend to know each other." 

"...I think that was Sabra Stein-Ongola," Sorka said after a couple of minutes' thought, "and doesn't Rene Mallibeau's daughter always carry a sketchbook around?" 

"Sure does," Jerry said, after thinking about it. "She mentioned giving classes some day."

"Some of the draftsmen Slade works with can do real detailed site-work ups," Dick pointed out. "One way or another, we'll get pictures."

Roy nodded at that, thinking it over, before he looked at everybody, quietly thoughtful noise in his throat. "Anything else happen that we all ought to know about before we hit the sack?" 

"NO!" came from several of the riders, then some laughter, before people started taking their dishes over to the sinks. It had been a long day, after too many long days, and sleep was very desirable.

****

For firestone practice, Sean took everyone out to the beach on the eastern side of the continent, to a beach Sorka remembered from one of her earliest adventures with Sean. How long ago it had been, them searching for fire-lizard eggs for Pol and Bay! 

Each rider carried a full sack of pebble to fist sized pieces of firestone, and were full of both trepidation and anticipation for this next exercise.

"We've all seen the little ones do it," Sean said firmly. "So... they can do this! We didn't mess with that gene sequence!"

Jerry blew out a long breath, nodding at him as he stroked the length of Manooth's nose, before fishing down into his firestone sack, coming up with a smallish piece to hold out to his dragon. As Sorka dipped down to find a piece to offer Faranth, Blazer, Duke, Kundi, and Sira all ducked their heads into firestone sacks to come up with their own pebbles to chew. Perching on shoulders nearest to dragon heads, they began to carefully grind the stone on their broad, flattened rear teeth, fluttering their wings for draconic attention. Others joined in, flitting around the dragons and chirping encouragement, carrying tiny phosphine-pebbles along with them. 

"Any guesses on how much they need, people?" Sorka called out, offering that bit to Faranth. 

"Not a one," Tarrie said, shaking her head as she held a pebble out for Sira in one hand, and a decently-sized chunk in the other, "but I'd say these're about the same in proportion, yeah?"

"Yes," David said, handing Polenth a piece, "and Kundi always takes several before she flames, the rest of mine, too." His dragon chewed, blue-green eyes taking on a distant, thoughtful expression as he carefully worked his jaws. 

Duke tipped his head up and Roy called out, "Look, Sorka!" before he let out a fine long plume of fire into the air, "trust yours to show how it's done!" 

Blazer was not nearly as impressed, the fire having nearly reached to Sean, and dove on Duke for a moment, scolding cheeps echoing before she returned to perching on Sean's shoulder and crooning at Carenath. 

The antics of the fire-lizards had the riders in stitches for a moment, but mostly they just watched their dragons. 

"Second stomach, Bri... not the food one," Roy murmured to his brown, watching those half-lidded eyes.

 _I know. Feels funny, but I know,_ Brileth complained at him. _Chakano tells me it should bubble._

"Chakano what?" Roy blinked, glancing between his brown and Dick's bronze fire-lizard. "Hey all," he called to the other riders and dragons, "apparently it ought to bubble in their second stomachs, Bri says Chakano says." 

Trouble stretched out a wing and smacked it on Brileth's muzzle, making the brown dragon roll one eye. _And Trouble,_ he amended, sounding sheepish. 

"And Trouble," Roy added, cracking up at that exchange. 

The grinding sound of rocks was suddenly interrupted by a blast of flame from a different brown, as Manooth took first honors. Jerry whooped at the flame, praising his dragon, just moments before Shareth turned his head to one side and belched... with a trickle of flame.

"Now we're cooking with stone?" Roy offered up wittily.

Dick groaned, tossing a firestone pebble at his partner, "Those're my job, you! And good job, Shareth -- but oh, that _reeks_!" he waved his hand in front of his face at the smell of burning phosphorus, and Sean called out, "Upwind, ride --"

His voice cut off as he dropped flat to avoid a blast of belched-out flame from Carenath. Lying on the ground for a moment, he repeated himself. "Riders upwind, and dragons, turn your blessed heads _downwind_ and away from everyone!" 

At nearly the same moment, Tarrie's Porth squawked in pain and dropped a piece of green-stained rock to the ground, moaning in obvious pain. Sira and Blazer flitted to Tarrie's shoulder and head, peering at the queen with worried cheeps. 

Kathy came over to take a look, wrinkling her nose at the green-stain on the rock and the obvious wound to Porth's tongue. "Be careful of your tongues, dragons," she called out to the rest, deciding it would seal over with no further assistance.

 _It hurts._ Porth's complaint and reluctance to chew more was duly passed on by Tarrie, who spent some time petting her dragon's muzzle, worrying over her.

"Come on, that's a great bronze," David coaxed his Polenth as the dragon let out a long, sustained flame.

"Great, Polenth," Sean said, praising the bronze -- and his own, as Carenath managed a good long flame this time... but barely a moment later, Nora's Tenneth whimpered in pain and tossed her head, throwing the bit of firestone in her mouth a good several meters as her eyes flashed unhappy orange. 

Sorka was beginning to fidget at the fact the queens were injuring themselves. _Faranth?_ she pressed, curious what her queen felt and was experiencing in this process.

_I only feel heavy in the middle. No bubbling, just... bad._

 _Well, keep trying?_ Sorka said, despite the trace of nausea in her own throat. 

_I will,_ the gold said, determination mingling with unhappiness as she worked on a piece of firestone. 

Over in a grouping of the queens, Rachel was starting to cough, looking plainly nauseous, even as Firth and Gilgath made Shih and Peter whoop in delight at their dragons' abilities to flame. 

Rosabelle growled at the pure misery coming off her queen, just before Lutenth made a plaintive noise and spat out the rock she'd been chewing on and a pile of nasty, steaming masticated firestone. The firelizards nearest them crooned softly at her, trying to calm her. Not twenty seconds later, Chamuth followed Lutenth's example, and Sorka felt her stomach grow cold.

How anyone could have taken the effort that was being done and blindly cripple it by traditionalist views of gender, Sorka had no idea, but she was suspecting that it was the case. "Sean... Did Kit Ping introduce a gender inhibition?" she asked, as level as she could. Her mate knew the coding far better than she did, after all.

"What?" Sean asked blankly, even as the rest of the gold riders moved in their direction, careful of the muzzles of bronzes and browns. "I'm trying to think of the program notes. I know the golds're supposed to mature at closer to three than two, while the males are, well -- "

"Functional now," Tarrie muttered. "Pol and Bay did say it seemed like they were producing sperm already, last time we did full physicals on them, while our girls weren't making eggs yet, but..."

"But nothing," Sorka said, one fist settling against her hip as she watched Sean. "A gender inhibition, Sean. Meaning that the other colors go and fight, while she did something to the queens so that they'd stay home and be good egg-carriers and mothers." 

That drew an even sharper growl from Rosabelle, her deep-tan skin starting to flush with anger as several of the boys took careful steps backwards and close to their dragons. "Hell if we will!" she snapped, her dark eyes flashing. 

"You got that right," Tarrie said firmly. "Flamethrowers in the air work just as well or better than on the ground," she added.

"Layered defense?" Roy asked, thinking about it. "The throwers don't match that belch Carenath let out, but if the long flames handle high, and the short flames are down catching the stuff that sneaks through.... Maybe that would make it work?" He really, really did wonder what that woman had been thinking, even as he was thankful the program had worked at all.

"It will have to work," Sorka said, resigned. "Maybe that trait won't breed through."

"Maybe, and maybe it's just that the queens aren't ready yet, Sorka," Sean said, trying to calm his wife and the other gold riders, even as he nodded at Roy. "Can extend the tubing and wands on the flamethrowers, too, get you some more reach on the flame, and see what Pol and Bay can make of this mess once we get to them." 

Sorka wasn't being easily mollified. Twenty dragons versus ten made one heck of a difference. "I hope we got mostly males out of the new eggs," she grumbled. "And hope that when the greens come out they aren't saddled with it!"

"If the greens are saddled with it, we're _screwed!_ Roy said, losing some of his color. "I mean, I know most of our blue and green fire-lizards took off on us when Garben blew, but we've managed to coax a few of them back, and they make up such a huge part of the fire-lizard population, and they do so much of the bulk of the fighting..." 

"I know," Sorka told him.

"Ratio calls for the greens to make up half the force, if I remember those numbers at all," David said, thinking on it. "I know you said the greens would be infertile if all the coding took, Sean. But Roy's right, if anything keeps them from flaming, we're going to be messed up."

"Then we'll just have to get the program reinstated by proving the ones who can flame make a difference, and try to get it fixed, if it comes to that," Sean said firmly. "IF!"

"Big if, given that we're looking at at least another... year for the queens to mature and fly to mate, three months or so to clutch, maybe four? Another four or five weeks before hatching, and two years to maturity?" Dick said, glancing at Sean to be sure he was counting everything up right. "So, three years and at least four months before we'll have any idea. Assuming we get greens in a first clutch out of your gorgeous queens, ladies." 

Sean looked at his mate, and just knew she was not taking these half-answers and 'wait-and-see' well at all. "If I ask Pol and Bay to comb through the code, and try to find it, will you lay off the dirty looks, woman!" he protested.

"If they find it, and then we ask for a new batch of eggs right then, yes!" Sorka agreed.

"Fine!" Sean grumbled slightly to himself, but Sorka did have a point... no matter how much he had a small, primitive voice telling him that he'd prefer to have her safe and sound always.

Dick grinned at Sorka for having managed to get that out of Sean, then he glanced at Roy thoughtfully. "Almost tempted to see if Dinah could make heads or tails of the dragon program and those equations, given how pissed off this idea is going to make her, but I know she's buried pretty deep in trying to figure out what the hell that sonovagun did to those grubs..."

"And she'd be the first to tell you she doesn't know animals." Roy grinned; for all that Dinah protested, she had managed to make more sense of the Tubberman notes than Pol had.

"Right, look out!" Jerry called, as Manooth decided that the grit in his guts needed to be expelled just then, looking apologetic about it.

"And that's why there's no exit on the second stomach," Kathy said, wrinkling her nose, but the residue from the male was decidedly more processed than the queens' piles had been.

"So, Pol and Bay it is," Dick said, shrugging a little as Shareth shifted on his paws before he threw up his own firestone residue. "Huh," he said thoughtfully. "Wonder if they could hack that stuff out _between_ instead of having it pile up places..."

 _YES!_ Shareth said to that thought. _Smells bad._

"Well, Sharie sure says yes," Dick laughed, wrapping an affectionate arm around his dragon's neck and hugging him. "Doesn't like the smell any better than we do."

"C'mon Brileth," Roy said, slinging himself up quick and easy onto the ridges. "Soon as you're ready, we'll go betw..." He got choked off as Brileth launched and vanished as soon as he was clear of the beach, popping back just the other side of everyone, closer to the surf. "Well!" Roy exclaimed, laughing through the chill-to-hot transition.

 _Up!_ Carenath insisted to Sean, pushing his nose into his shoulder. By the way the other bronze and brown riders jumped almost as one up onto leg and into place, they were receiving the same entreaties from their dragons. 

"Let's move on out into the surf and scrub the ladies down," Sorka suggested as the males vanished almost as one. She then watched as the firelizards started scooping sand over the piles left behind, confused until Nora laughed.

"I complained they stunk to Tenneth, and she asked them to cover it up!" Nora explained for her laughing, even as they all started walking and gliding, human and dragon, down to the surf as suggested.

Rosabelle was still growling, but her hands were incredibly gentle on Lutenth's hide as she scrubbed her down with beach sand, leaning against her gold. The males flashed back in, saw the example of their queens, and landed in the shallow surf to be coddled as well.

*****

That night, Dick asked Shareth, _Where's Sean, love?_

 _Carenath says he and Sorka are in their cave,_ Shareth answered after a breath. _Should I tell him you are coming?_

 _Yeah,_ Dick said, turning to trot that way. It didn't take long to get there, and Sean was standing in the doorway when he got there. "Hey, Sean."

"What's up, Dick?" Sean asked, leaning against the opening, with Sorka already curled on their bed in the smaller chamber.

"Thinking. There's Thread tomorrow over Omaha. It'd be a good place to practice -- even if we miss some, it won't take out crops, 'cause they'll have the shutters closed. And then we _can_ get a fax off Dinah and Jake to be able to get North to Fort before the Fall in three days there." 

Sean reached out and gripped both of Dick's shoulders. "That's genius... it's an afternoon Fall too. So we can get up and tell everyone, then get ready for it!" As he let go, he looked back into the cave. "Sorka, have Faranth tell the rest to go nowhere tomorrow morning. I want all the riders at breakfast."

"I can do that," she said, smiling at Dick for hitting a solution to how to juggle training with practical application.

"I try," Dick said, pressing into that grip on his shoulders with a grin at him and over at Sorka a moment later. "Nice to know I succeed sometimes."

 _Often,_ Shareth said reprovingly from outside, and from the look on Sorka's face, she'd heard it too. 

"Dragon giving you flack?" Sean asked, knowing that look on their faces. "Go on, get some sleep. Tomorrow we make this all pay off."

Dick hugged him in hard for a moment, moved over to wrap an arm around Sorka, then headed out and headed for bed. He stripped off his gear, slid the shield over the glows, and crawled in to curl around Roy's body, nuzzling at the back of his neck intently. 

"Hmm... oh, hi." Roy slid himself around, so he could look at his lover. The feel of Dick so close, and the fact everything felt more relaxed than in weeks had Roy meeting Dick's lips for a deep kiss, promising more.

Dick had had every intent of telling his partner that they were flying for real tomorrow, but that... that distracted him into needing and wanting him instead -- they _were_ flying for real tomorrow, which made tonight a good time to show how much he loved him. 

He could let Sean tell Roy tomorrow, if he forgot by the time they were done. 

***

Sean was up and in flight gear, his jacket open, when everyone started wandering into the kitchen. He planned to go ahead while they ate, to tell Dinah what to expect, and to scout the amount of land they were going to try and protect.

"Morning all," he called out to them, anticipating the day with both a relish to finally do something and a slight apprehension... not that he would ever admit to the latter.

"Morning," Dick called back, having carefully _not_ gone after full flight-gear yet -- he hadn't gotten to tell Roy last night, and he wasn't going to steal Sean's thunder this morning. 

"Faranth said you wanted all of us?" David asked, his eyes searching across Sean's face. 

"I do. You riders need to eat light, and keep your dragons from gorging today," he told David, letting his excitement come through just a little. "Dick had the idea of us flying Fall, for real, today. Over an area that already has strong defenses, which will give us some leeway as we learn to correct for our own errors."

"Omaha," Jerry guessed, knowing the charts fairly well. "She's got full shutters down there, whereas the other stakes haven't gotten all of theirs installed yet."

Roy half turned around, muttering a phrase no-one else could decipher as he glared at his partner, but then his eyes came back around to Sean, excitement brightening the green to gold at the idea of their first real fight being at home. //What if --//

 _We will not. We will be together, and we will succeed,_ Brileth said, calm and certain. _We will protect our home, her home._

 _I know, we will._ Roy breathed deeply and let himself calm. 

"I don't want any heroics. We engage with sled tactics and adapt as we need to," Sean said. "Fall is early afternoon their time. I will ride ahead, get a feel for the territory, though at least it's one we know well. Severe injuries... if there are any... will be handled on site. In the future, we'll have a med team for such things."

Kathy nodded, her dark eyes going a little distant as she thought over who out of the medical staff she could most easily steal away that would also be good with the dragons. 

"We're going to be dozens of klicks in the air, leather straps hooking us to fire-breathing dragons, while we try and kill something that could eat any of us in two or three heartbeats, and you 'don't want heroics', Sean?" Rosabelle asked, leaning back against the wall and cocking a brow at him. "Think you're talking to the wrong people." 

Sean gave her a tight smile. "No more than needed to do our duty, then? Seriously, riders, today will be a learning experience. I want every rider and dragon still able to fly Fall in three days at the Fort, where they have no shutters. If we can keep their growing space clear of Thread, that's one less season Admin will be living off hydroponics, less hoof and mouth disease for the animals, and proof we are **not** a waste of resources."

"We sure as heck aren't!" Jerry called out to that one.

" _We_ know that, Jerry," Dick said, "but you know they don't. Sean's right. Speaking of flying for real. Sean, David, which one of us do you want where?"

Sean looked at the pair of men he trusted as his right and left hands, then made his decision. He'd been putting it off, trying to be fair. "Sorka, you will divide the queens out into two wings. David, you have Roy. Dick, you ride with me. Shih Lao, also to my wing. Paul, you ride with David's wing. The bronzes and browns will fly high, first and second altitudes. David, I'll take the upper deck. Sorka, I am leaving the organization of your two wings and the lower two altitude levels to your planning." He looked at his wife with absolute faith in her ability. "My only suggestion is to put Kathy in the lowest wing, in case her skills are needed on the ground."

"Talk to Dinah about medical supplies and triage. She's got good first aid skills, and stocks every pharmaceutical under the sun," Roy told him, accepting his placement. It made sense, given that Sean would have been brown heavy if he had kept Roy in his wing.

Sorka looked at her queen riders thoughtfully for a few moments, before making her decisions. "I'm taking the higher altitude. Tarrie, Catherine, Nora, Alianne, you're with me. Nyassa, you take the lower wing. You've got both of our medics with you. Rosa, Jessie, you may have to pick up for Rachel and Kathy if they're needed on the ground." 

Nyassa nodded, thinking it over. "Then you two take the back corners, that way we don't have to adapt as much if you are needed on the ground," she said, looking at Rachel and Kathy. 

"Sounds good," Kathy said, while Rachel nodded. Her abilities were odd, and many had been uncomfortable with her, but among the dragonriders, her Eridani-enhanced heritage made less waves. That she could be herself had alleviated a lot of the stress she had felt growing up.

Sean nodded, pleased by Sorka's quick decisions. "I will see you all at Omaha, an hour prior to Fall, so we can go over my thoughts on how to tackle Fall, and have time for the males to chew enough stone." He then headed out, having already helped himself to breakfast, and ready to get to Carenath to start his assessment.

David took a moment after Sean was out, then looked around at everyone else. "I don't know about all of you, but I'm packing a spare pair of pants."

That broke the tension left in Sean's wake with several caroled-out agreements and more than a little laughter, before the riders settled in to eat just enough to keep their minds sharp for the Fall without souring their stomachs. 

***

Dinah looked out as Hope informed her one of the 'big ones' was coming, knowing it wasn't one of her boys since Hope had not named the dragon. Fear cut into her heart a little, as it probably always would when a dragonrider that was not one of the boys showed up. She dusted her hands off, handing the current class over to the senior-most student before walking out from under the shutters. She had been giving a class on how best to help a plant that got scored, as occasionally a fragment of Thread had gusted under the shutters. Granted, she had more than enough manpower now to have at least one flamer under every set of shutters, so it never got too far.

She looked up, recognizing Carenath by the shade of his hide and the shape of his wings as the bronze cupped his wings and dropped to land close to her. "Dinah," Sean said from his back even as he pushed his goggles away from his face. "Things look good." 

Dinah was able to relax only once Hope let her know Blazer was excited but not upset. "We're trying. I can't put any more fields under until every stake... and Admin... have at least one field covered, but I've managed to make the most of the space with my students' assistance." She reached out to put a hand on Carenath's neck. "Hello, Carenath." She never forgot the dragons were beings in and of themselves, but then she herself was a product of modified genetics, having been born and raised in a higher-gee environment.

Carenath dipped his wing-tips at her as he shifted his neck into her hand, pressing the muscle against her palm as he rumbled quietly. Sean nodded, then looked full at her. "We're going to fly it here, today. All the bronzes and browns are chewing and flaming well. You all right with being our first go at it?" 

Dinah blinked, then nodded. "I appreciate it. You'll have a good ground crew for it here; we've been doing our best to do what we can, including borrowing a trick from Rene Mallibeau about keeping frost from grapes." She pointed to the various fire trenches dug between rows of dirt that would one day be protected by dragons rather than metal shutters.

Sean turned to look at the trenches, then cocked his head at her curiously. He couldn't quite follow what she meant, but he was no farmer."Glad to hear it about the ground crew -- I've got every faith in my riders, but there're only twenty of us, and with how wide it falls..." He shrugged his shoulders just a little, then let that go, focusing on the problem of the moment. "Roy said to talk to you about medical supplies and help afterwards. No matter how good we are, someone's going to get hurt. We can freeze it off _between_ , but that won't kill the pain. You've numbweed enough for the dragons, or do we need to bring some along?" 

She snorted. "I've plenty. And the rest of a full triage kit, if needed. There's myself and at least three students with basic medical training; though I'm housing Central Contact, I don't rate a medic of my own for the stake." The original boundaries had been widened significantly, both by Admin decree raising both Slade and Dinah to Charterer status, and a few students permanently signing on with her by adding their claims to theirs.

Sean snorted, rolling his eyes at that last. That their primary farmer and only real botanist didn't rate a fully-certified doctor just told him again that Admin didn't, actually, want to make sure that the southern continent stayed safe and healthy. Maybe he was judging too harshly, might be a medical team at Paradise or over on Seminole, but... "Good. That'll be a help. Need to go back up, feel what the air currents are doing today, how we're going to fight it. Just wanted to tell you what was going on." 

"It is appreciated. I also will make certain word doesn't leave the stake, either, or they'll be expecting you to be perfect at it already," Dinah told him. "We have the resources to last until you get those dragons fit and ready to burn the stuff, Sean, so if it takes more than one practice run here in private training, you take it!"

"Thanks," Sean said, smiling at her a little as Carenath pressed his neck against her hand again, a low rumble deep in the bronze's chest. He shifted his weight, checking his straps, then looked down at her again. "Slade home?" 

"Not today." She kept her tone the same, but something in how her eyes and face blanked even made him see how much she was beginning to resent the long days away to help Telgar or Drake meet the colony's needs.

And when he could see that, there was a problem. "Sorry to hear it. See you either in a bit, or after the Fall, Dinah. Up, Carenath, let's go check the winds." 

Dinah watched him go, then went to find Jake before any word of Sean being on a visit leaked North, or even to any of her fellow Southerners. She found him easily enough as he was just finishing the downtime maintenance of his comm gear, in preparation for Threadfall.

"Jake."

"Hey Dinah," Jake said, looking up from his comm array with an easy, winning smile. "What's up?" 

"Things I do not wish Northerners to know," Dinah told him, a firm note in her voice as she walked inside. "I plan to talk to my students, but you are the one who actually talks directly to Admin," she continued. "And I need your word, for the safety of the dragonriders and their dragons, to keep today out of comms."

Jake blinked at her, completely confused, but he stopped what he was doing to look up at her, giving her all of his attention. "What's going on?" 

"Sean is here. And he is bringing the riders in. To train." Dinah's gaze never left Jake's face. "They don't need any more pressure. And if Admin knows they are trying today, they will have nothing but pressure. Do you understand this?"

It wasn't often that Jake was taken aback by much of anything, but those words did the trick. He just stared at her for a good half-minute, then he nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I get you. Sis doesn't need that kind of pressure on her, and neither do the rest of them." 

She breathed out very evenly, then nodded. "Thank you. Both of my boys ride. I... need them to have what time they can to truly try and be ready for that menace. They were _out there_ that first fall." She then looked out the window, noticing the skies were staying clear, so there would not be the extra vectors of heavy rain at least. "Now, PA announcement, all hands in front of the main house, so I can redivide the duties. And warn them off loose talk."

"Yes ma'am," Jake nodded, reaching for the mic and the PA controls so that he could put that word out. 

Dinah walked out to handle the details; honestly it wasn't that different than running an agro-farm on satellite, to manage so many people. She just had a different set of concerns -- one that happened to include carbon-lifeform-devouring space invaders -- now.

****

Dick brought Sean's wing in over Omaha Stake, glancing down at the mix of shutters and open space with a flicker of satisfied pleasure at seeing how good things looked. Below them and back, David's wing winked in a half-breath later, Sorka and Nyassa's coming in at almost the same instant. His glance quickly found Carenath on the ground, and he signaled for all of them to drop to join him there. 

Sorka checked her wing... and let Nyassa do her own checking. Sean, she knew, was looking over every single dragon and rider. The day was promising to be clear, light wind, though the broad plain and nearby river marsh meant that could be variable. With any luck, they had all learned enough in sleds on how to cope with such to keep their dragons safe.

 _We will keep you safe as well,_ Carenath told her, betraying a little of Sean's anxiety in that reassurance.

 _I know, Carenath,_ Sorka said gently, brushing her love and reassurance over his mind. _We protect each other._

 _Yes,_ the bronze and her queen agreed, even as Faranth settled onto the open ground Sean had chosen. 

"We're still doing this?" David called, sliding off so he could get one of his sacks open and ready for when they needed to stoke the dragons.

"Yes. Weather's holding clear, and we're not going to get a better training day than today," Sean said. "Not a lot of cross streams up in the air, though if we fly it to the edge of her marshes, we'll get a few interesting currents there," Sean told them.

"All good things," Dick said, hand stroking on Shareth's neck for a moment. "How much of the Fall are we flying, Sean?" There was no way, this first time, that they had the endurance for six hours of constant in-and-out of _between_ , but oh, he hated to think of just letting the stuff drop onto the planet. 

"Until we have enough dragons and riders, Falls will be restricted to the immediately proven grounds of inhabited stakes, plus five klicks. Dinah, Pol, and Bay have all used that as a known distance for how soon a Thread will gorge into death. The stakes will have to provide ground crew to go behind the Edge to kill anything that gets through us." Sean looked out over Omaha, then back at his riders. "This, Caesar's place, and Admin may be the largest areas we fly for, but each one is a major population or food center."

"Makes sense," David said, nodding once. "So we've got a long swath of it today, but we can do this."

"Anyone else scared half out of their mind?" Jessie asked, and Hallath snorted as she pushed her head into the back of her rider's shoulders. 

_We are brave, not stupid,_ Chamuth said a few moments later, deliberately speaking to all of the riders. _But this is why we are. We will succeed._

"Like rider, like dragon," David said loud enough for all to hear, looking over at Rachel with a grateful expression.

"And glad for it," Shih Lao added.

"Courage is being afraid and still doing what is needed," Roy said, quoting something Slade had told him and Dick during the long war against the Nathi.

"I am fairly certain that was Chamuth's point," Rachel said, smiling back at David, then at the others. Between Jessie and Chamuth, though, some of the fear she could feel in her fellows was gone, transforming into steadier anticipation -- and nerves -- as they stood with their dragons. 

"We'll start chewing twenty minutes before Edge should be in sight," Sean said. "I believe that will give them time to digest and be ready for it. Dragons, remember that we have to keep the flame ready for the full time it takes to pass here today. So throw that ash up on your skips, and chew more as needed!" Sean reminded the flying half of his team.

 _We will not forget,_ Carenath told him, with the pressure of others seconding him.

They settled down for the wait, each rider checking straps, queen riders checking HNO3 tanks and their extended wands, the guys checking the snaps of firestone sacks as they talked over -- again -- which heights they were going to take and which formation they wanted to use. Despite the tension and anticipation, the time passed quickly, and it was soon time for the bronzes and browns to start chewing firestone.

This time there was less in the way of surprise, as the dragons let more instinct take over the procedure. The firelizards that looked to the riders were chewing along with them, and just as the smudge could be seen on the horizon, more of them than they usually saw in one place appeared, answering the call of the stake's resident queen. The wild fairs looked at the dragons with curiosity, then decided that being too close to the big ones might not be best.

Blazer informed Sean that Hope would encourage her friends to fly even lower, under the queens, closest to the shutters and buildings and furrowed fields. Dinah wanted those kept as Thread free as possible against the day when there would be enough dragons to plant out from under shelter.

Sean chuckled quietly, shaking his head as he waved his hand at the fire-lizards, "So, we've got double ground-crew thanks to Dinah and Hope. Sorka, Nyassa, they'll be down under your wings." 

"Well, we all should have known that was coming," Roy said, grinning as Trouble launched off his shoulder and flew towards Hope, Chakano overtaking him to circle around her. 

Hope twined necks with each of the pair, just before Major burst into the air. Slade might not be home, but he knew it was Threadfall and Major belonged with his fair to defend their nest. Major bumped heads with both of the other males, prior to fully greeting his mate. Only once he had done that did he swoop in to steal a block of firestone for himself.

"That's … totally cute," Nyassa said, before taking a deep breath, because the smudge was getting visible enough to make out the roiling mass.

"Yep," Shih Lao agreed, just before Sean's bellow cut through the air. 

"Riders up!" Twenty seconds later, once everyone was on their dragons and settled in, he called out for checked straps and checked airspace, and then the dragons were in the air, flying towards the Leading Edge.

Sorka waited for the launch command, and watched first Sean's, then David's wing spring high and surge forward, before she had Faranth take their wing up and to the assigned altitude. She knew when Nyassa's wing got up behind and below them, each wing just slightly trailing the other at their assigned airspace to compensate for the way Thread fell.

Though she had ground-crewed, Sorka had not had to face Thread at close proximity since that day under the ledge, terrified and so certain that her world had been changed forever. Now, her life changed yet again by the addition of a being as intimately a part of her own existence as breathing was, Sorka saw her mate and friends engage the deadly rain at dragon's breath's distances. And then, all too soon, clumps and strands were near enough to her wing to be seen in detail. A visceral rage and protective instinct guided her hand on the flamethrower, trying to catch the lower tips of the strands so the flame would go up the oily, noxious organisms.

After the first clump she destroyed that way, and as she was going for the second one, all of Sorka's fears that had nebulously lurked in the back of her mind solidified and were cast aside. Yes, she feared losing family or dragon to Thread, but she was no longer afraid that they would fail to protect their homes.

A single rider might fall, but in the end, the Dragonriders of Pern would prevail.

Hundreds of meters above her, Roy was experiencing nearly the same epiphany at the back-right position of David's wing, Brileth under him focused on holding their position in the wing and targeting the Thread that came near their range. From his spot on drag he saw as Polenth winked in and out, Gilgath and Manooth following -- then it was their turn to evade, Brileth bouncing into _between_ a bare breath before Thread hit them, then back out to char the next clump out of existence. 

They could do this, they _were_ doing this -- all the months of practice, all the waiting... all of it was over. This was their time, and as they bounced in and out of _between_ again, he whooped in nothing but pure, fierce joy as Brileth's flame destroyed the Thread closest to them. 

_More firestone,_ Brileth said even as he bounced them _between_ again. Roy grabbed for a sack and a lump, and Brileth turned his head to take it. Clumsy, too clumsy, but good enough, and they kept flying. 

The first time Thread hit Brileth's wing, Roy wasn't sure which one of them had cried out, and he held Bri _between_ longer than he had yet, making certain it was gone before they went back into reality. His eyes snapped over, seeing the lurid score -- but there was nothing but black ash there, and Brileth could still fly. 

_It hurts, but it is not much,_ his brown reassured him, flaming again. _We will do better. Faranth says we are brave._

Roy had to accept that, because there was Thread, and they still had work to do. His family's stake was rolling by under him, the marshes where Dinah was concentrating on the rice-like grains still not in sight. Until they were, Roy and Brileth would fly, doing their part to protect the land below.

His brown's steady _Carenath says we land now,_ seemed to come a hundred years later -- and at the same time, it felt like only minutes. He breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, his hand rubbing at Brileth's neck. "Then let's land," he said, glancing down. 

Sure enough, they'd reached the marshes. There, the Thread would drown. Polenth led them away from the Thread, then they all winked out, coming back in above the cleared stake so that they could glide down. 

"Bri, how are you?" Roy asked worriedly, trying to twist to see every spot he could feel aching with pain now that they weren't in the thick of the fight. "How're Shareth, Carenath?" 

_We all have injuries,_ Brileth answered him, calm and steady. _None are too bad --- rider,_ you _are hurt!_

"What?" Roy blinked, trying to figure out where Bri could feel he was hurting. 

_Low leg, above boot,_ Brileth described, and sure enough the thinner part of the pants at the knee had tell-tale burns along the side. Brileth, already aware that Kathy had left before the end of the Fall to deal with their one semi-serious injury in Shoth's wing, reached out to the one of **his** family that would be able to make Roy stop hurting. _Roy is burned on his leg,_ Brileth said in Dinah's head, before he felt the echoing report from Shareth about Dick's hand.

Dinah, assaulted by the need of both her boys through their dragons, hurriedly got her pot of numbweed and various antiseptics, burn salves, and bandages. "The two of you are going to have to be close together then, so I can take care of them and you both!" she scolded at the pair of dragons, unwilling to leave either young man or dragon to her students.

"Did they really just -- " Roy didn't even bother to finish the question as he slid down from Bri's neck, spitting profanity as he tried to bear weight on the burned leg. 

"Think they did," Dick said as Shareth moved around some of the others to get to Dinah. "Get Roy so I can get Shareth's side, Dinah? My hand doesn't hurt as bad as your side does, Sharrie, don't flash your eyes like that at me." 

"Use your good hand; you don't need to develop neuropathy in the burned one because numbweed kills your ability to feel tears in the tendons and muscles," Dinah told him, setting her carry stool down and flicking it open to serve as an impromptu table for them to work from. The collapsible disk with legs was normally attached to her belt when she was working and she decided that today it was a boon of fortune, as she and Dick both needed access to her supplies. "Down on your butt, Roy. I'll clean it, and then you can numb it while I look at these marks on Brileth and help check Shareth over." 

"Yes, Dinah," both young men said in almost complete unison, moving to do exactly what she'd told them to. 

They were safe. All four of them, Dinah told herself. All that they had were minor injuries, and those could not be avoided at this stage. She could touch them, touch both suede-like hides of the bronze and brown. That settled her down from her fears, and she was able to be her solidly professional self to treat the four Thread fighters.

Hope came to her shoulder -- then lit instead on Brileth's muzzle, rubbing her jaw along an eye-ridge as she crooned at him. 

_Hope says fighting Thread is much easier now, with not so much to burn!_ Brileth told them all, laughter in the thought despite the slowly-easing pain.

Dick snorted, shaking his head. "I'm so glad you appreciate our work, Hope," he said, still tending to Shareth, even as Sean walked towards them. He lifted his char-burned hand in a wave, and Sean nodded back at him. Their leader's face was covered in a mix of soot and traces of blood except where his goggles had set, and his blue eyes were alight. Dick couldn't tell with what, not between Shareth's pain and his own, and he just waited for Sean to say whatever was on his mind. 

Roy looked up at their undisputed leader, watching as Sean took in both dragons and the riders, inspecting and numbering the wounds they had... and Sean took too long to move along or speak, because Dinah saw him. 

_Carenath! You tell me when he's being stubborn!_ she sent at the dragon, regardless of if he was listening to her, before she summarily pushed the supplies from the stool to each of her boys' laps and hands. "Sit!" she told Sean, firmly. Before he could bridle at her, she continued. "You can't lead if your face gets infected, young man, and you know it. Plus it would distress Carenath to no end. Your queens took less damage, and their riders are circulating to finish the dragon and rider checks!"

Between the blackmail of his dragon and of his own need to lead his people safely, Sean shut his mouth and sat to be tended to. 

Roy ducked his head down behind Bri's shoulder to keep from laughing as Dinah took the wind out of Sean long enough to make him do what she wanted -- and filed the trick for later. 

It wasn't long before David and Marco, Sorka and Tarrie, and Nyassa and Rosabelle had all found Sean, and with the leaders of his wings there, Sean promptly checked each of them over without ever moving from his seat. 

"Your wings?" he asked of all three of them. David was the first to answer. "Everybody's got a scored wing, and if there's a rider that doesn't have char burns, I don't know it, but none of mine are hurt bad enough that we won't be good to fly at Fort." 

"You boys didn't let all that much through to us," Sorka said, scrubbing dried blood away from her cheek. "Not in comparison. We've _got_ to come up with a better technique for swapping out our tanks, though, I think every single one of us about hit Thread trying to manage that!" 

"Just about the same on refueling the dragons," David offered. "Polenth needed a piece, and damned if he didn't have to snort a belch mid chew because a tangle came up right in our flight space."

"Maybe best to call out a hole in the wing, stretch the two closest to cover, and bounce away to refuel for us queens," Nyassa said thoughtfully. "When Kathy had to bounce down for Otto and Shoth, I just had the wing spread out a little further."

"I noticed; it worked well for that small clump that fell between me and Tarrie," Sorka said, getting a nod from Tarrie, and a satisfied smile from Rosabelle, who had charred it. 

"We need to spot those, the ones evenly between riders, faster, and have one or the other dragons wave off, leaving it to one to follow down or catch," David said. "Which means trusting our distance and agility judgments better."

"Jays, yes," Sean agreed. "The wedge works great, but we've got to get better at -- all of it. Tanks and firestone, making those calls about who gets which tangles, knowing when the updrafts are going to pitch the stuff funny.... but. We did it, all."

"Yes you did," Dinah said firmly, "and you were all amazing. Especially for a first attempt." 

Roy did not flush as bright as his hair... but it was a near thing. Dick wanted to tease him about it but then Dinah continued.

"Once you all were past my point enough, Jake and I managed to catch some of it on recorders. That way you can look at it from our perspective, see if that helps, possibly share it with any of the former pilots that you trust? Slade's a ground man, but he might have suggestions anyhow."

All seven of them stared at her for a moment, then Sean grinned at her despite the score on his cheek. "That... oh, _thank_ you. Be real interesting to see that, look at it from down here." 

"Sure will," Dick agreed, stretching his shoulders out. This was one small skirmish in what was going to be a fifty-year war -- but oh, it felt good to win like this, with his best friends alongside him and over the home they'd worked so hard for. 

"If the lot of you want to stay over the night, we've got barracks room. And you will all stay for a meal at the very least, give the numbweed time to set," Dinah told them. "The firelizard are jubilant at such little fighting, and more than willing help clean dragons or fish for them," she added. "The students can handle the cleaning part under your supervision, and I might be able to roust them out to go get some wherries; they fall on the carrion of anything Thread doesn't manage to finish off, so it shouldn't be hard to get a few."

"Food?" The question was in nearly seven-part harmony, and across the landing ground, draconic heads came up to stare directly at her. 

"Who told them there was food coming?" the question came from Marco at the far edge of the group. 

"Dinah," Sean answered him, "from the lizards and the students not lending us a hand." 

"Thank you, Dinah," Sorka said, "food and time to rest sounds _wonderful_." 

"Sorry I don't have the kind of equipment to get more than one dragon washed at once, but my wellhead only has so much pressure," Dinah apologized as they all started to move towards the complex of buildings that were her home, the barracks, and barns. 

"Hey, it's better than the ocean," Rosabelle said, shaking her head at the apology. 

"I'll have to see about other water delivery systems, or get moving on the irrigation project to divert part of the river into a new reservoir," Dinah said, thoughtful about the project that would bring her mate home; that was the only reason it wasn't done yet. Dick and Roy exchanged a look, knowing that trying to tell Dinah to take it easy was like telling Sean to relax.

It was part of their lives.

***

Dinah curled up with Slade, still overjoyed he'd made it home for a full week at least.

"Until they can get that fabricator back up," Slade had reassured her, before picking her up and carrying her into their home, over her protests of propriety and the quiet snickers of Jake and her students.

"You missed the boys," she told him quietly, now that she was able to discuss more mundane things... or speak at all, given how intense their reunion had been. She suspected Hope was near to rising, as fierce as her reactions had been. "All the riders, actually. I wouldn't let Jake tell anyone."

Slade had been stroking his hand down her side, but those words caught his attention, making his hand still for a moment before it continued. "Oh? All twenty of them were down here?"

"Mmm-hmm," she replied, looking up at him with a light in her eyes that had been... focused or even dampened since that first Fall. "They flew. They flamed Thread. It was marvelous!"

He stared down at her for a moment, surprised, then he felt his smile flash across his lips. "They did it?" 

The question was mostly to hear her say it again, to see if that light in her eyes would intensify for repeating it. 

"They did!" There was no doubt that she was overjoyed, excited, and even hopeful in the way she reiterated it. "We filmed some, once the edge was past my main shutters, and it is so amazing." She shook her heads. "Those poor kids and the poor dragons... not a one was untouched, even in the queens, but they held true and they _did it_!"

He hugged her tighter, twisting down to kiss her for a moment, delighting in hearing that hope in her voice, then his head tipped to the side a little. "Glad you at least got some of it recorded, want to see it. What do you mean, 'even in the queens"? I've met those girls..."

Dinah's eyes flashed with a different kind of light, full of anger. "If Kit hadn't passed creating the first batch of eggs, I would be demanding answers. I know Sorka and Rosabelle are right there with me. While Sean is holding out hope that the queens just mature later, it looks strongly like Kit Ping Yung introduced a gender-based discrimination in the very code. None of the queens could chew stone and produce flame. So the girls had to use throwers."

"She what." It wasn't actually a question, just the only way Slade could come up with to express his complete lack of comprehension there. "They _what_?" 

That one actually was a question. "Those gi -- girls, hell, those women -- are taking hand-held flamethrowers stars-only-know how many hundred meters into the air to fight Thread, risking themselves worse than the queens flaming possibly could, and they think it might have been _deliberate_?"

Dinah pressed in and kissed him soundly for that temper. She'd have to tell Sorka later, next time the Irish girl... woman... was down. "Yes. Traditionalist that Kitti was thought to be, they think it was deliberate. No real ability separating the males from the females has appeared yet that would explain a need to sacrifice female offensive capability to any kind of gain."

Slade growled, shaking his head. "Of all the damnedfool fecking back-asswards stupid horseshit on the _planets_ , she had to haul _that_ kind of filth along?! ...I'm glad I wasn't there the day Rosabelle, Sorka, and Tarrie learned _that_ one, it has to have been... interesting." 

Dinah laughed softly, honestly amused, though it was a bit dark for the fact it centered on their survival. "I have an impression that Sean had a hard time making the women happy." She snuggled against him. "Oh they were so brave, though. They flew four wings... and Dick's the second to Sean, in that wing. Roy's riding for David, while Sorka has half the queens and Nyassa has the other half. Stacked them at four levels, then chased the Fall all the way to the marshes."

"Stacked 'em like the sleds, basically? And... that's not a short flight. Nowhere near what they'll have to do one day, but pretty good for a first crack at it." 

"Sean's going to fly them at Fort, over the main courtyard and up to the extinct volcano, he thinks," Dinah told her mate. "I stressed that he could take a little longer to train, but he thinks they need to just jump on and go. So we pulled aerial photos, and the lot of them studied until they couldn't stay awake. Took them with to their caves, which is why I know Sean's going to go ahead." Despite the fact that her boys would be so far away, risking themselves, Dinah was calm and peaceful with the concept.

"Well, his timing's pretty well perfect," Slade said, a sharp smile crossing his features. "I don't know if they know it or not, but Telgar commed back to Drake and I before I left that they're not flying the Fall tomorrow. They're just going to pull into the cave and wait it out." 

"There's not much else they can do, with those sleds in such poor shape. I spoke with Victor at Paradise a few days ago, and he's not certain he's going to be able to put one at every stake," Dinah admitted. "Which means I really need to find some enterprising souls that aren't too afraid of Thread to help mark out paths for inter-stake, over-land travel," she said, half-irritated at the need, but also curious what they might yet find on this continent.

Slade nodded. "That doesn't surprise me at all, not with the demand we've put on the things the last year-plus. Finding those routes... wish I could spare the time to ride with you," he said quietly, pressing a kiss to her hair. 

"We won't always be busy," Dinah said, half-hopefully, half in protest of how much time they spent apart. "I've got to pull satellite maps, and then plot Fall information, shelters, the like... it will be a long-term project."

"You're right," Slade agreed. "We won't always be busy. I'm getting some of Drake's people to where they understand the engineering at least as well as I do, and I'll be blessed glad when I can hand it over to them. And overland routes will need smoothing, shelters built, bridges or at least stable fords..." From the way his voice trailed off, he was already plotting out his arguments. 

This made her much happier, and she pushed him back into the pillows, intent on showing him just how pleased the idea of working with him again made her feel.

***

For the last two days, Leonid had watched uncounted hours of the dragons and riders in the air practicing maneuvers. From the bronzes and browns working out the trick of taking lumps of firestone from their riders as they flew to the queens practicing separating from their wings to swap out HNO3 tanks in safety under the wings and away from Thread, and all of them working out the tricks to staying in close formation as they winked in and out of _between_ , it had filled their days and the skies around the Caves. 

Now, as he listened to Sean's bellow -- how that man's lungs took the strain of all the yelling, Leonid had no idea -- as they prepared to head to Fort, he felt another flare of worry for the riders. He stood in the open doorway of Stores, waiting until they launched and winked out, then turned and ran for his comm set. 

"Caves to Fort, come back?" 

"Fort here; figured I was done talking to you for a bit, Leonid," Zi Ongola sent back. "What can we attempt to do for you?"

"Other way around, sir," Leonid said, letting himself laugh. "You've Fall hitting in half an hour, yes?"

"Yes we do." The slight growl of annoyance in Zi's voice was unmistakable. The fighting instinct was not doing well with 'sit still until the enemy gorges to death' at all.

"The dragons are on their way -- actually, they should be outside by now -- to fight it," Leonid said, at least _trying_ to report it calmly. "They were going to spend the time between now and then checking the air currents and uplift there, since they haven't been North yet." 

"They... that Connell!" Zi Ongola said, the only exclamation that fit. "Thank you, Leonid... I have to go find enough throwers and bodies to provide a ground crew! Fort out!" No sooner than he flipped the switch than Ongola threw the one for the PA. "Attention, all ground crew, report to the main cavern with your gear. Briefing to be held in twenty minutes!"

He knew, as he got up to go down there, that Benden, Boll, and who-knew-who-else would try to intercept him for an explanation.

He was right, too. The first one to reach him, oddly enough, was Emily, her light eyes searching his face intently even as she matched his stride. "Zi? What's going on?" 

Paul Benden wasn't but a few more doors down, and Zi could clearly see the admiral in his old friend's bearing, so he answered them both at once, letting himself grin as he did it. He might want to wring that damned boy's neck for keeping secrets, but oh, this was going to be a delight to share with them -- and best shared with most of the group that would be risking their necks outside with the dragons, too. "Report as soon as the ground crew is assembled, governor, admiral." 

"This I have to hear," Emily told them, keeping up as they followed Ongola. Paul slipped an arm under her elbow to help her as they moved, knowing she was still sore from the jostling during the sled crash.

"When Zi's got something under his hat, I pay attention," Paul told her.

Ahead of them, Zi let himself smile, then wiped it off his face as he reached the entryway to the main cavern and found a stack of boxes to use as an improvised podium. He stepped up onto it, waiting for the rest of the ground crew to assemble. Between his announcement and his people's curiosity, it was only about fourteen minutes before it appeared that all of the usual ground crew was clustered around him, confused questions passing between their people, aimed up to him. 

"Anyone missing from the ground crew?" ZI asked, mostly to get himself those last six minutes. "Crew leaders, check and report." 

Everyone checked, and one young woman came running, still trying to get her tank settled on her back, but eager to know what was happening. Emily and Paul tried to stay out of line of sight, but were listening just as eagerly for Zi to explain, when they had no sleds to fly.

"All accounted for, sir!" the head of his ground crews called out once the girl was with her crew, and Zi nodded. 

"Thank you, Jan. All right everyone!" he lifted his voice, pitching it to reach even the crowd of non-ground crew that had come to find out what was going on. "This is a day we've been waiting for... the dragons are here! They're above, checking the wind currents and uplift around our mountain, and they're our air support today." 

Paul Benden had not expected that, to say the least. He felt like he could fall over if someone just pushed with a finger... and Emily wasn't far behind him in that shock.

"That young man did it; he's brought them here!" she said, before turning to look for the nearest window that had not been shuttered over.

"Obviously, we've never worked with them before, so stick close to the Hold doors until we see how wide a swath the dragons clear, _then_ you ground crew go to work. Just like with the sleds overhead. You've all done this, I don't need to tell you how to do your jobs. Threadfall starts over the ocean in -- three minutes -- and should reach us in fifteen." 

"We'll do our best!" one crew chief called, amazed that they'd be depending on twenty … no, forty... young lives up in the air to help them prevent the burrows that could render their fields sterile before they were ever planted.

"We need to set up a triage station, Paul," Emily said. "Vet and human," she added.

"You're right, Emily, of course we do. Pol and Bay are here, aren't they?" Paul asked. Trying to keep track of where everyone was was beyond him -- he wasn't Joel -- but they were part of her team. "I know Red's here with most of his apprentices. Where?" 

"I believe so," Emily said. "You go find enough medics and get some tables set up for them on the left side of the grand chamber; I'll find the vets with everything ready to roll out into the courtyard for the dragons." She shook off the lingering depression that had been gripping her ever since the crash of her sled had felt like a harbinger of doom in her mind. They would meet this challenge!

Paul nodded and turned to go, racing pell-mell across the chamber towards the set of caverns that now housed their medical staff and facilities. 

Emily headed over into the bestiary and the assorted xenobiologists, veterinarians, and breeders in the secondary major 'bubble' cave, hurrying despite the stretch on bruised muscles. "Red Hanrahan! Pol Nietro! Bay, Bay, where are you?" Emily called, poking her head into every door as she went.

"Here, Emily!" Bay called out, her voice echoing out of a door several further down before she reached it. "Red's all the way in the back, and Pol has a class go -- what is it?! What's wrong?!" 

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Emily was ebullient as she reached and took Bay's hands. "You need to get a team together, and supplies, ready to handle animal injuries! The riders! They came!" She smiled blazingly bright at Bay. "We have to be ready to care for them, beast and man both! Now hurry, Thread's... maybe ten minutes away yet, and we want to be ready for them!"

Bay clung to her hands for a long moment, staring at the radiant smile on Emily's face in shock before she let go and turned to run. Her heavy step rang loud on the stone floors, but not nearly as loud as her voice was as she yelled for her partner, Red, and the trainees. Mariah burst into the air above her head, whistling shrill and sharp. Emily left them to get that aspect set up and taken care of, running back up to where she could get to a window.

"Just want to see," she muttered to herself, knowing she could go be at the doors... and also well aware she would just be in the way until the crews actually moved out to do their part. Once they had, she promised herself, she _would_ be in the courtyard to see for herself.

She found her window, pressing close against it, trying to see towards the harbor, where the Leading Edge should already be -- 

\-- and there they were. Barely more than specks at this distance, but specks that breathed fire, flame that sheeted up the length of tangles of Thread.

Ever closer, the deadly rain and its antagonists came, until she could actually see individual differences. The brighter, shining levels of golden hides kept drawing her eyes, for the flame gouts were different there, not so pronounced. Up above them, the darker hides of the males flitted, swooped, dived, and soared, breathing fire against the destruction that sought the soil, and life, below.

"Yes... so marvelous!" Emily cheered, when one patch of thick Thread burst in flame from a bronze dragon that had been in peril's path before blinking and nearly turning on his tail as he reappeared to get the Thread.

She wasn't sure if it was her voice or an announcement she had missed, but soon there were others beside her at the windows. Mairi Hanrahan with her youngest son and grandson in either arm, Ju Adjai-Benden, Dieter Clissman -- his daughter was out there, Emily suddenly remembered, and she shifted a step back to reach for his hand and pull him closer -- and so many others. The window-well swiftly filled, and the younger ones ran for other windows. 

She did not see Pierre... which meant he was already in his kitchens preparing a meal for their saviors and ground crews. She let someone take her place as it was close to the Edge passing over, making her way down to be able to get to the doors. The crews were fidgeting, but Emily saw them holding discipline until the doors were cranked open. She stayed out of their way completely to let the crews get out and start Thread hunting, but followed behind them. Nor was she surprised that many of the observers were willing to come out and risk scoring to be on hand for the return of the dragon riders.

Paul came out, rushing ahead of the medics and vet crews who were setting up to receive the injured riders and dragons. Emily started to move toward him, but thought better of it. Let Paul reap the reward of being the one to greet Sean Connell, as the idea had begun with Paul's wish for bigger fire-lizards. She could wait, and tell them her pride in them afterwards.

The dragons descended, the bronzes and browns first, then the queens, dropping into the open space the vet trainees were holding open with rope they'd gotten from _somewhere_ , bless whatever brilliant child had found that, and the crowd's roaring cheer fell nearly silent as they saw Paul standing there.

From the back of his dragon, Sean Connell brought his hand up in a sharp salute. "Sir," he said, his voice amplified out, "May I present the Dragonriders of Pern?"

Despite being out of uniform, Paul's hand came up in an answering salute. "Yes, and you're gladly received -- now let us give them the medical attention they, and you, deserve!" 

Emily had managed to keep a place near the vets, at least, and so she could see Pol and Bay weeping even as they moved between dragons with antiseptics and numbweed both, easing the dragons' whimpers of pain. The queen-riders, something about them caught her attention again -- 

\-- they were wearing flamethrowers with longer wands and wider nozzles than any she had seen, multiple tanks strapped to the dragons' riding straps. Why? That would explain the difference in the flame she'd seen near the queens, but why would they have the queens not flame? Well, that mystery would wait, as she found herself with a pot of numbweed and a gold tail that had been clipped near the end... she thought it was Lutenth. Paul's and Sean's words both rang over and over in her head, and she felt they were all in better hands than ever before.

The young riders would guard Pern, and they, the people, would nurture the riders along with their dragons.

***


End file.
